Friction pump for evaporating liquids



March 7, 1961 P. SCHLUMBOHM 2,973,829

FRICTION PUMP FOR EVAPORATING LIQUIDS Filed March 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P. SCHLUMBOHM 2,973,829

FRICTION PUMP FOR EVAPORATING LIQUIDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 7, 1961 Filed March 16, 1959 a f fl w 54 35 I INVENTOR United States Patent I Y 2,973,829 FRICTION PUMP FOR EVAPORATING LIQUIDS Peter Schlumbohm, 41 Murray St., New York, N.Y.

v Filed Mar. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 799,608

Claims. (Cl. 183-17) This application is a continuation-in-part of my pending application Ser. No. 354,786, which will be issued as Patent #2,877,865. The application also is a'continuation in part of my pending application Ser. No. 443,289, now Patent #2,909,909.

The invention refers to a method and apparatus for cooling and circulating air, the cooling being effected by direct heat-exchange with an evaporating liquid such as water. Such evaporative air-coolers are effective only in climates of dry atmospheric air and the temperature effect is limited to about 5 F., the wet-bulb-thermometer reading.

The present invention improves this temperature effect by evaporating the water at a lower pressure than the starting pressure of the circulated air, based on the method of Patent #2,877,865, which is: to pump gases centrifugally from a space of starting pressure to a space of higher pressure by letting the gas flow through an entry zone into a centrifuging spacehaving a center zone around the axis of rotation and a peripheral ejection zone to the peripheral zone and maintaining throughout the centrifuging space a pressure smaller than the starting pressure by the cooperating means of (a) restricting the flow of the entering fluid to a one-way, axial, porous flow, and (b) restricting the flow of the ejected gas in the ejection zone to a one-way, valved flow.

The present invention adds to this method the step of introducing into said centrifuging space a liquid such as water, whereby said liquid can evaporate under smaller than atmospheric pressure and whereby the evaporation heat is withdrawn from the air passing through the centrifuging space, with the result that the temperature of the ejected air is lower than the temperature of the entering air.

Apparatus for executing this method is shown, by way of examples, in Fig. 1-Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawrugs.

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in view and partly in vertical cross section, of a friction pump of my invention arranged in front of a sponge-like water-logged wall.

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly in view and partly in vertical section, of two friction pumps coaxially arranged,

with their shafts towards each other, within a walled space. The water is stored between the two pumps.

Fig. 3 is a side view, partly in view and partly in vertical cross-section, broken away, of a friction pump of my invention, together with means to feed water through a hollow shaft into the centrifuging space.

In Fig. 1 a porous impeller 20, comprising one or more porous discs, is mounted by means of an arbor 18 on the shaft 6 of a motor 7. The impeller rotates in front of a co-pumping wall 8. The space C between them is the centrifuging space, into which the atmospheric air enters through the porous discs to be centrifuged and to be ejected through the peripheral ejection slot formed between the wall 8 and the periphery of the disc-impeller. The wall 8 is porous, reticulate like a sponge and holds water 9 in its recesses. It offers an overall llca plane surface which works as co-pumping wall and defleets the impeller into the truncated cone shape as shown and as explained in the parent patent.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration to show that the water may also be held in a pan 22, supported by a handle 23, arranged in the centrifuging space, which in this modification is created between one impeller 20 and a second impeller 21, both of the type being shown in Fig. 1. Arranged in a space walled by walls 24, 25, 26, '27, 28 and a front wall (not shown) the water will evape orate in the centrifuging space at a smaller pressure P than the starting pressure P. 1 a

The illustration of Fig.3 also is of a diagrammatical nature. The friction pump is of the type shown in Fig. 1 comprising two or more porous discs forming the impeller. In the case of Fig. 3 two discs 29, 30 are mounted with their a'rbors 31, 32 on a hollow shaft 33 .of the motor 34, and they are spaced from each other to provide space for small openings 35 in the wall of the hollow shaft. Through these holes water can be sent into the centrifuging space C. The water is fed to the hollow shaftby means of a stationary tube 36 attached to a sleeve 37, which is supported by a leg 38.

Following the invention, the low pressure in the centrifuging space is used to suck water into the centrifuging space from a zone of higher pressure where the water is at a level below the center of the centrifuging space. The arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 3.

The arrangement has the great advantage that water is fed to the centrifuging space only when the pump is in operation. It is easy to maintain and control by conventional means the level of the water supply in the container 42.

The arrows indicate the entry of the air and of th water, respectively, and the mixture of air and water vapor leaving through the 360 ejection slot. Such a water feed could also be supplied to the modification of Fig. 2, to replace the pan 22 and its support 23.

The new method is not limited to water as the liquid could be connected to a suction tube 39 of a vacuumv pump and could have an inlet 40 of valve 41 for fresh gas, said inlet being valve controlled to maintain the pressure P at a predetermined pressure below atmospheric pressure. Thus fresh gas would flow constantly through the chamber, with a predetermined starting pressure P and the liquid would evaporate at a still lower pressure P'.

Such a setup is similar to a two-stage compressing setup. The interesting feature in the present case is that the temperature effect of the Water can be greatly improved by evaporation at lower pressures and that the pump of my invention is still able to handle the increased volume of the air.

Having now declared the nature of my invention and having shown by way of examples the way in which it may be performed, I claim as my invention:

1. 'In the method of pumping gases centrifugally from a space of starting pressure to a space of higher pressure by letting the gas flow through an entry zone into a centrifuging spacehaving a center zone and a peripheral ejection zonecharacterized by maintaining throughout the centrifuging space a pressure smaller than the starting pressure by the cooperating measures of (a) restricting the flow of the entering'fiuid to a one-way, axial, porous flow, and (b) restricting the flow of the ejected gas in the ejection zone to a one-way, valved flow; the

step of introducing into said centrifuging space a liquid I and its vapors can join the centrifuged gas to be ejected with it.

2. In the method as claimed in claim 1, the step of operating at a starting pressure which is lower than one atmosphere.

3. In the method as claimed in claim 1, the step of utilizing the low pressure in the centrifuging space to suck water which is at a higher pressure at a level below the center of the centrifuging space into the centrifuging space.

4. Friction pump for evaporating liquids, characterized by a stationary, plane Wall of reticulated structure which is-like a wickholding the liquid to be evaporated, and by an axially, rotatably arranged disc impellermade from porous sheet material of predetermined flow resIstance-parallel and in proximity to said wall, said stationary wall and said disc forming the walls of a centrifuging space-having a center zone and a peripheral ejection zone-in which a pressure smaller than the starting pressure is created when the porous disc impeller centrifuges air and vapors towards the peripheral ejection zone.

5. Friction pump for evaporating liquids, of the type in which a centrifuging space is formed between two porous discs arranged coaxially, axially spaced on a rotatable shaft, characterized by a hollow shaft with openings in the zone between the two porous discs, whereby the liquid to be evaporated can be introduced into said centrifuging space through said hollow shaft and said openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,342,469 Holm-Hansen Feb. 22, 1944 2,397,230 Armathes Mar. 26, 1946 2,655,310 Schlumbohm Oct. 13, I953 

